Lightweight Running Shoes, Published: Nov 03, 2024 12:11 PM EST finished one place apart in a high-stakes marathon.
At the These Celebs Ran the 2024 NYC Marathon, Mantz placed sixth in 2:09:00, one place and 21 seconds ahead of Young. The performances continued a pattern established at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, where Mantz was sixth in a personal best of 2:07:50 and Young was seventh in a personal best of 2:08:00. At the Olympic Marathon Trials in February, Mantz and Young finished first and second, respectively. Twelve weeks ago at the Olympics, Mantz and Young finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
CJ Albertson was the third U.S. finisher today, placing 10th in 2:10:57. Albertson entered New York on an even shorter turnaround than Mantz and Young. At the Chicago Marathon three weeks ago, Albertson Jess McClain Takes Eighth at NYC Marathon, running 2:08:17 to be the first American there. Albertson was also the top U.S. finisher in April at the Boston Marathon. He placed fifth, 30 seconds off the podium at the Olympic trials.
Mantz and Young were part of the 13-man lead pack that passed halfway today in 65:33. Mantz told Runner’s World that at around that point, he and Young talked about the early conservative pace. “We said, ‘It feels like a long run with a fast finish.’ We just didn’t know when that would start,” Mantz said.
When eventual second-place finisher Evans Chebet broke up the pack with a big push in the 17th mile, Mantz found himself in a pack of three occupying places seventh through ninth. His and Young’s coach, two-time Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone, had come up with a three-part race plan: Deploy, enjoy, destroy. “Deploy” meant to stay engaged with the lead pack for the first 16 miles. “Enjoy” meant to draw on the crowd’s energy along First Avenue. Mantz said that, although he thinks he could have covered Chebet’s move, he decided in the moment to hold back because he believed doing so would lead to a higher finishing place.
The third part of the Eyestone strategy, “destroy,” meant to run as hard as possible from mile 20 to the finish. Mantz pushed, pushed, and pushed for the remainder of the race, moving up to sixth. His final mile of 4:43 was the fastest of any of the top 10 finishers.
Young was out of the top 10 after Chebet’s surge into Manhattan. But, like Mantz, he moved up well over the final 12 kilometers. Young went from 10th at 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to ninth at 20 miles to seventh at 40 kilometers. His final mile of 4:47 matched that of winner Abdi Nageeye’s as the second fastest in the field.
“The move off of the Queensboro Bridge took me by surprise,” Young told Runner’s World. “I felt like I had been told, ‘Whoever leads off of the bridge and down First Avenue doesn’t win’ so many times that I didn’t expect a move that big to be made. I expected to be in the pack through 20 miles. Conner, just ahead, kept me accountable.”
